On 30 January 2022, I was designated as my Office’s (DFA – Office of Public and Cultural Diplomacy), representative to the celebration of the World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day, following an official invitation from Executive Director Thoko Elphick-Pooley, Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).

The idea was to communities light up “landmarks, stadiums and iconic buildings around the globe”
as a display of unity to combat NTDs and to invite prominent/well-known individuals to the attract public attention to the event.

With less than a month then to prepare for the event and the first time for the Philippines to join the celebration, our Office acted quickly. We wrote back to the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi, coordinated with the management of SM Supermalls to secure the SM Mall of Asia Globe, wrote to the World Health Organization Country Office (since it’s a health-related issue), and wrote to the Office of the United Nations and International Organizations. I drafted messages to commemorate World NTD Day.

We didn’t get some responses on time and none at all from one of those offices despite following up. So it ended with then OPCD Assistant Secretary signing the draft message to make it on time for posting on the day of the celebration. Also, instead of a representative from the health sector to be the country’s representative, I was the one assigned.

The task posed a challenge since I felt I wasn’t credible enough (I was the Assistant Director of the Cultural Diplomacy Division and felt that I had no right or expertise to talk about health issues. Haha! ) But I did read up on it and studied the related issues. I even prepared responses to QnA in case the journalists asked (Some of these questions were given by a journalist on the morning of the event: What is NTD Day and why do we celebrate it? Do you consider tonight’s event as an opportunity to improve our health care system as a country? Has our country been actively working with other countries in the global NTD community on this? What does the lighting of MOA globe symbolize with what we’re shining a spotlight on tonight? etc.) and until I was on my way to the venue, I was still in coordination with my ever-supportive Assistant Secretary, who checked the shortened version of responses that I sent via Viber.

My ride to the venue was about 45 minutes and it was exciting because I knew that I had a short time to know the information by heart. I first went to the main Department building. picked up the official photographer, had snacks, and by the time I got to the venue, I was ready and still had a few minutes light chat with the SM representative.

The event went well. As it was nearing 6:00pm, I stood, together with SM Mall of Asia mall manager Ly-anne Salazar, in front of the SM MOA Globe. Pictures were taken. Interview questions were asked. I tried my best to confidently respond to the questions posed by two journalists.

The lighting ceremony to celebrate World NTD Day went well, all thanks to several factors — Our Embassy in Abu Dhabi gave us sufficient information, the NTD global celebration organizers provided the materials on time, SM was easy to coordinate with (Ms. Willa of SM is a darling), and I had a supportive boss who is always calm and believed in me.

How can we improve in case we do a similar activity in the future? I think, have a health expert be the country representative and explore another significant location for the lighting ceremony. And of course, start preparations early.

So even if the circumstances are not how your perfectly envision them, it’s still okay as long as the goal, in this case to spread awareness about NTD and support the global community, was met. 🙂

Author’s Note:

DFA OPCD was officially separated into the Office of Public Diplomacy and Office of Cultural Diplomacy on 14 February 2024. I am part of the latter.